


What Was He Like Before?

by B_Rabbit14



Series: Gravity Falls Shorts By B_Rabbit14 [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Angst, Demon Dipper Pines, Depression, Multi, This is sad and made me cry, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23238448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_Rabbit14/pseuds/B_Rabbit14
Summary: "Okay, class, I have a project for you," The entire class groaned and grumbled including Acacia Pines who dropped her head to the desk in dismay. She already had so much school work to take care of and of course, the teachers just had to pile on more. So far Middle School was proving to be something she wasn't ever going to like. "Now, now, I don't want to hear any complaints when I haven't even told you what your project is about." There was still a few mumbles from some of her classmates, Acacia turned her head to the side and gazed out the window. "I want you to pick a family member that you admire and I want you to tell me why. Then I want you to write an essay telling me what you learned about them while getting information for this project. Your project can be in the form of a PowerPoint or a poster board, you will also be reading your essay as well as presenting your projects to the class."Cue another collective groan.Acacia lifted her head and looked at the board in front of the classroom that had a summary of the requirements for their projects. Acacia didn't think she would have a problem coming up with an interesting presentation. After all what was more interesting than having a demon for an Uncle.
Series: Gravity Falls Shorts By B_Rabbit14 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886872
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99
Collections: TAU Discord Recs





	What Was He Like Before?

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this, I worked really hard while writing this. I apologize if this doesn't match up with what happens canonically in the AU as I tried my best and wanted to try out my own take on the AU. This was heavily inspired by a series of drabbles and oneshots made by Seiya234 I really love their works. Anyways I rambling please enjoy this and pardon any mistakes I may have missed

  
"Okay, class, I have a project for you," The entire class groaned and grumbled including Acacia Pines who dropped her head to the desk in dismay. She already had so much school work to take care of and of course, the teachers just had to pile on more. So far Middle School was proving to be something she wasn't ever going to like. "Now, now, I don't want to hear any complaints when I haven't even told you what your project is about." There was still a few mumbles from some of her classmates, Acacia turned her head to the side and gazed out the window. "I want you to pick a family member that you admire and I want you to tell me why. Then I want you to write an essay telling me what you learned about them while getting information for this project. Your project can be in the form of a PowerPoint or a poster board, you will also be reading your essay as well as presenting your projects to the class."

Cue another collective groan.

Acacia lifted her head and looked at the board in front of the classroom that had a summary of the requirements for their projects. Acacia didn't think she would have a problem coming up with an interesting presentation. After all what was more interesting than having a demon for an Uncle.

* * *

"So you're saying you want to do your project on Uncle Dipper but you don't know what information you're allowed to use?" The youngest out of the Pines triplets, Willow, summarized while sitting next to her sister on the bus home.

"Why don't you just ask Mom, I'm sure she's got some dirt one Uncle Dipper," Hank, her brother, suggested without looking up from his book.

"We already know a bunch of embarrassing things about him, but I'm talking about all the interesting things!" Acacia said as she threw her head against the seat and sighed.

"Like...?' Willow asked and pushed a piece of her frizzy red hair out of her face.

"Like how he became a demon," Hank said finally looking up from his book and staring at his sisters. Acacia pointed at him and grinned like a madwoman.

"Exactly."

"But doesn't seem like a sensitive subject?" Willow asked with a small frown, her siblings frowned as well.

"Will's got a point." Hank said returning to his book, "Maybe you should just use Grunkle Stan for your project, he's done some pretty interesting stuff in his lifetime." Acacia's frown deepened and she crossed her arms over her chest. 

"I only want to ask a few questions," She mumbled, Willow put a hand on her shoulder and stared at her with eyes that looked far too old for a twelve-year-old to have. Willow's mouth was pressed into a thin line and her expression was very serious.

"I wouldn't if I were you," She stared then looked down for a moment and looked back up as her expression morphed into a more sad one. "Every time something like that gets brought up both Mom's and Uncle Dipper's colors get so sad and- and.." She broke off suddenly and took a deep breath. Hank put his hand over Willow's and gave her a reassuring smile to which she returned weakly. Acacia felt like crap now, she knew how sensitive Willow was to these types of things so when she said it was a bad idea she most likely was right.

"Will, I- I'm sorry," She said quietly then straightened up. "So asking him or Mom is out of the question, but what if there was another way?" She said while tapping her chin in thought.

"What 'other way' do you have in mind?" Hank asked warily.

* * *

"I don't think we should be down here..." Willow whispered as she watched her sister dig through a giant pile of books like she was a mole. Acacia had managed to convince her siblings to help her get down to the basement where Grunkle Stan still kept some books her hadn't moved to the library yet, hopefully, she would be able to find something useful.

"Relax Will," Acacia grunted as she shoved her way through the pile struggling to reach the books on the bottom. "If anyone comes down Hank will give us the signal and we'll hightail it out of here," She explained for the umpteenth time. "And even if we do get caught, we can make up some excuse about thirsting for knowledge or something like that..." She muttered.

"Really, since when do you ever pick up a book much less read one for fun?" Hank scoffed from the elevator door where he was listening for any signs of the adults upstairs.

"Har de har har." Acacia deadpanned without turning around. She pushed some books out of her way and sighed as she read the titles and they didn't prove to be useful in any way. This went on for a few more minutes and Willow was beginning to get bored of watching red seep into her sister's colors as her frustration began to grow. She turned around and began to look at all the junk that had piled up over the years, on top of a metal shelf was a box that seemed promising. Willow dragged an old stool over to the shelf and stood on top of it with shaky legs, just as she grabbed the box the stool tipped over sending Willow falling over. In a desperate attempt to save herself she grabbed the box but only succeeded in dragging it off the shelf and down with her. Willow squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the impact to come.

Only it didn't, instead, she felt a rush of cold air enveloped her and the scent of pine and damp earth hit her nose. She sighed and opened her eyes and was met with golden and black eyes, "Uncle Dipper..." She began but was cut off when he put her back on the ground and turned to her siblings who were giving their Uncle matching sheepish smile as he leveled them with a blank stare.

"Just what are you three doing down here?" He asked in a calm voice to which Acacia stepped forward holding an old book about ancient runes in her hands.

"Feeding our curiosity...?" She said lamely causing Hank to facepalm. Willow looked behind her at the box that now lay forgotten on the ground and had spiled it contents, Willow glanced at her Uncle who was more focused on his siblings at the moment to notice her drop quickly and grabbed an object with a strange symbol on it. Dipper looked at his oldest niece and chuckled before scooping up his youngest then collecting Hank and Acacia as well. Acacia immediately began to squirm in his grasp as he made his way to the elevator. "Uncle Dipper! We're not babies anymore, put us down!" She whined.

"I know that, but would you have come willingly if I hadn't?" He asked smirking when Acacia left out a small huff before going slack in his arms. He blipped the kids up to their room and set them down before placing his hands on his hips and looking at them with one brow raised. "So, are any of you going to tell me what you were doing down there? Because I'm sure we all know that Acacia won't pick up a book unless she somehow benefits from it." Hank snickered at that comment and received a harch jab to his ribs by Acacia's elbow.

"We wanted to see what we could find down in the basement, We were curious," Wilow said with a shrug of her shoulders before her siblings could lamely try to lie in front of a literal demon. Her Uncle's gold and black eyes bore into her own and she met his scrutinizing stare with a level one of her own. Her siblings seemed to be holding their breath from the intense silence, Dipper leaned down and continued to look deeply into Willow's eyes. Suddenly he leaned back a laughed loudly causing the triplets to let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Sounds convincing to me, but I think your Mother would think differently..." He said with a sly smile that displayed his sharp canines.

"You're not going tell her, are you?" Acacia asked with wide, sad eyes, and Dipper mentally cursed to himself as he realized just what kind of hold these kids had on his heart. He knelt in front of his oldest nibling and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I won't." He said and Acacia smiled, "But only for something in return." His shark-like smile was back and the kids groaned. "Hey, it's only fair."

"Fine," Acacia grumbled and looked to her siblings the back at Dipper. "If you won't tell Mom then we'll give you our desserts for three nights."

"A week."

"Fine..." She groaned then held out her hand. "Deal?" Dipper's sharp smile softened as he took his niece's hand into his clawed one.

"໓ēคl." They shook and then Dipper stood up to his full height and smiled down at his niblings, "No if you'll excuse me, I have some business to take care of." He turned to leave but suddenly turned back to face them. "Don't go getting into trouble, got it?" The triplets nodded in unison, Dipper chuckled and patted each of their heads before turning and snapping his fingers and blipping out of the room.

The kids waited a few seconds before sighing in relief, Willow turned to her brother and sister and threw the item she had grabbed from the basement to Acacia. "You owe me big time." She hissed and Acacia rolled her eyes while Hank looked at the item now in Acacia's hands.

"What's that?" Hank asked.

"I found it in the basement, it looked promising. I don't know what it is though." Hank took the object from Acacia and studied it. He looked to Willow with a slightly unimpressed look and shook the device slightly.

"A tape measurer, Will? How is this going to help us get answers?" He asked while Acacia took the device back and began to trace her fingers over the symbols on the sides.

"What made you think to pick this up?" Acacia asked not looking up from the tape measurer, her siblings looked to her. Willow stared at that device in her sister's hands and shrugged.

"I just had a feeling..." She said quietly, her saying that reassured Hank and Acacia that maybe this old dingy tape measurer could help them get some answers.

"What does it do?" Hank asked while moving to sit on his bed. Acacia continued to turn it around in her hands looking at it from all angles.

"Dunno." The eldest of the Pines triplets muttered, Willow continued to stare at the symbol and tilted her head as she felt a tugging sensation in the back of her head.

"I think it's a time machine of sorts," Willow said suddenly causing her siblings to send her funny looks.

"As cool as that would be, I think that's just wishful thinking," Willow frowned at pointed at the device in her sister's hands.

"Look at the symbol on its sides," Hank stood up from the bed and walked back over to them before peering at the symbol along with Acacia.

"You getting a 'feeling'?" Acacia asked looking back to her sister, one look into Willow's eyes gave her the answer. She turned to the device again with stars in her eyes. "Cool..." She whispered in awe. "How do you think it works?" Hank's fingers glided to the metal piece on the end of the tape measurer and gently pulled it out revealing different lines depicting how far back in time they would be going.

"I think you just pull it out to the time you want to go back to and let it snap back," He muttered and was about to let it snap back when Willow grabbed his hand and stopped him. He gave her a confused look but she didn't let go.

"Don't let it snap back yet, we don't know how far back we want to go," She warned, Hank looked back at their hands and nodding in understanding. "How old is Mom?" She asked suddenly causing Acacia to now look at her confused. Hank, however, seemed to be catching on with what she had in mind.

"Thirty-nine," He answered, Willow, nodded and did some mental math before looking back to the tape in between her and her brother's hands. "We'll need to go back twenty-seven years and three months."

"Why three months?" Hank asked while Acacia gently pulled their hands of the tape and began pulling it out to the right line.

"Because whatever happened to Uncle Dipper happened during the summer, it's November. If we're going only by years we won't go back far enough," She explained, then looked to Acacia who seemed to be vibrating with excitement. "We should probably bring some things in case we stay longer than we plan," Hank nodded and turned to his dresser to grab his backpack and began filling it with clothing and supplied he deemed necessary. Acacia moved to do the same but Willow stopped her, Acacia glanced down at the tape measurer and nodded. Willow turned and began to pack for bother her sister and herself, once all three of them had their backpacks secured they looked at the device still in Acacia's hands and then back to each other wearing matching expressions of grim determination.

"What if it doesn't work?" Hank asked as he placed a hand on Willow's shoulder while she did the same with Acacia.

"Too late to chicken out now," Acacia snarked nudging her brother with her elbow, he frowned but otherwise didn't comment further. Acacia looked back to the tape in her hands that was directly on the line Willow deemed correct and took a deep breath, she looked at her siblings with a shaky smile. And though she hated to admit it, she was feeling a little scared. "You guys ready?" She asked.

"What? Getting scared Cacia?" Hank said half-heartedly and laughed when Acacia glared at him. "Yeah," He looked to Willow who nodded. "We're ready."

Acacia inhaled deeply through her nose and closed her eyes, she quickly let go of the tape. It snapped back into the measurer and suddenly a sense of vertigo overcame her and everything was quiet.

Acacia opened her eyes slowly, she looked around the room and noticed that instead of the triple bunk bed they had in their room normally it was replaced with two beds on either side of the room. One was neatly made and lined with stuffed animals of all kinds, the other was unkempt and messy with books papers and pens that were strewn about on top of it. On the bed was a blue and white hat with a pine tree on the front, Willow walked over to it and slowly picked it up with shaky hands. Willow looked to her siblings who were staring back with equal levels of shock.

"I think it worked..." She whispered, Acacia stared at the device in awe. Their relief was shortlived however when they heard voices coming from outside, Willow grabbed her sibling's hands and began to drag them out of their room, well it couldn't be considered their room anymore. Willow continued to drag her brother and sister down the stairs and led them through the door that to the gift shop, once in the gift shop Willow dove behind a rack holding some shirts with her siblings doing the same.

"Holy shit..." Willow faintly heard Acacia whisper, part of her wanted to correct her language but she knew now was not the time for that. "I can't believe it worked..." Acacia muttered.

"Shh!" Willow hissed and Acacia shot her a weak glare but closed her mouth nonetheless. "We need a plan, we obviously can't stay here but where can we go?" She whispered. Hank peeked out from behind the rack and glanced around the room, he looked back to his sisters.

"We'll pretend to be tourists," He said suddenly and before the others could stop him his moved from their hiding spot and began to look around the gift shop. Acacia suddenly followed suit and began the charade of being a tourist, Willow gulped suddenly feeling nervous and reached in her pocket to feel her inhaler before moving out from behind the rack as well. As they looked around the gift shop Willow noticed some nicknacks that were still in the shack in her own time, as a couple of voices rang out from the entrance of the living portion of the shack all three triplets looked in the direction of the noise.

"Mable!" A familiar gruff voice shouted, "After you take care of your reckless brother, go make sure the shop is locked up for the night!"

"Hey, I'm not always reckless." Came a weak retort from yet another familiar voice but only it sounded slightly different then from what they were used to.

"I don't know, Bro-bro. You can get pretty reckless at times," Chimed in a third voice, the triplets looked to each other and nodded in agreement. They knew without a doubt who those voices belonged to, "You gonna be able to get up there by yourself, Dip-dop?"

"Yeah, I'll manage," The owner of the second voice then seemed to have retreated upstairs while the other was now heading there way. The door labeled 'Employees Only' swung open revealing a girl that looked to be about the triplets' age, she wore a light pink sweater with a yellow pony on the front and a peach-colored skirt. Holding her hair out of her face was a headband colored a darker shade of pink, she looked to the triplets a smiled showing her braces. The second she flashed that smile Willow knew without a doubt that was her Mother, no matter what time or place it was hard to not recognize your Mother. Not only was her smile familiar but her colors were nearly the same as they always were. Mable was bursting with playful hot pink and overflowing with soft greens bearing her kindness. It was nearly overwhelming ut Willow quickly remembered to use her bubble Uncle Dipper had taught her to block out the colors. "Oh, sorry but the shop's closing." Mable began and she walked over to the triplets, Willow subtly shot her sibling a look before approaching her. Mable seemed to look them over for a moment before letting out an ear-piercing squeal of joy. "OMG, are you guys triplets!?" She shouted causing Acacia to take a step back.

"Yes, we are. I'm Hank and these two are my sisters, Willow and Acacia." Hank answered, but was shoved slightly to the side as Acacia stepped forward.

"I'm the oldest," She stated. Mable seemed to vibrate with bearly contained excitement.

"That's so neat! I have a twin brother but I don't think that's the same thing, so are you guys tourists or just new to town?" She asked innocently not noticing the triplets sending nervous glances to each other. Hank stepped forward and decided it was his turn to take the lead.

"We're tourists, our Mom and Dad got distracted and accidentally left us behind. They said they'll try to make it back here tomorrow, but for now, we don't necessarily have anywhere to go..." He trailed hoping that she would buy his story, Mable's smiled dimmed a bit before brightening back up twice as much.

"That's okay you guys can stay here for tonight!" She then gasped dramatically and squeezed her cheeks together with her hands. "It'll be a sleepover!" She shouted then grabbed the nearest triplet with unfortunately happened to be Acacia and proceeded to drag them to the door she entered from. Willow shot Hank a wary look wondering if this was a safe thing to do to which he only shrugged and followed Mable into the living quarters of the shack. "Grunkle Stan! Is it alright if some friends of mine sleepover tonight!?" She shouted as they made their way to the stairs.

"Yeah, sure." Stan's voice could be heard from the den, where he was most likely watching T.V. Mable didn't waste any time ushering the triplets to the bedroom she shared with her twin. Just as she was about to burst through the door she suddenly paused, Acacia looked to her confused for a moment but before she could say anything to her she raised her hand a knocked gently. It was a great difference from her normally loud and boisterous attitude, the four children waited for the occupant of the room to answer. After a few seconds of silence, Mable looked back to the triplets and brought a finger to her lips, silently shushing them. They nodded and watched as Mable gently opened the door a stepped inside, she held her hand out to signal them to wait a moment.

"Dippin' Sauce?" She called quietly, Mable peeked out from behind the door and saw her twin brother a collapsed onto his bed without changing out of the silly priest costume from her play. He was snoring much like a small kitten and Mable resisted the urge to squeal as she moved the blankets from underneath him and covered him up. She gave him a quick once over before grabbing some of her crafts supply and slipping out of the room, "My brother's sleeping right now but we can hang out in the yard, I have glow-in-the-dark beads that we can make bracelets out of." She said in a softer tone, Willow was almost concerned with easily Mable was willing to shelter some strangers and quickly become friends with them but at least it made things easier for them.

"Is your bother sick or something?" Acacia asked as the four of them walked out and sat around on the porch, Willow was helping Hank take out the supplies Mable had brought down. Mable didn't answer right away and all that could be heard was the chirping of some crickets, she looked down at her hands and sighed before looking back up with a bright smile on her face. Willow wasn't fooled though, she could see blue creeping into her aura mixing sadness and worried violets into her normally cheery and bright aura. But as quick it came it seemed to be sucked away as if Mabel suddenly pushed whatever thoughts were plaguing her to the back of her head. 

"No, it's just... He's just had a rough day is all," Mable went back to unloading her crafts supplies. The four pre-teens sat around talking idly and getting to know each other well into the night, Willow watched as Mable talked Acacia's ear off and tried to teach Hank how to french braid some yarn together. It was strange to be in her mother's past like this, even though Mabel was currently talking she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander. Why had Mabel reacted that way when Acacia asked her about Dipper? Did something bad happen? She knew that her mother and her uncle had gotten into a lot of trouble in their youth but she wasn't so sure she was ready to find out just what exactly had happened to them during the summer they spent here.

* * *

_ Bright shining blue strings are wrapped around his forearms, legs, and neck. The strings tighten and it becomes harder to breathe, they dig into his flesh and burn the surface. He wants to cry out from the pain but can't. Something won't let him. He can't move of his own accord, something is pulling the strings and making him move towards the curtains in front of him. He tries to fight back but the strings tighten again, tears form in the corners of his eyes from both the pain and the fear forming in the pit of his stomach. He begins to move again, towards the curtains. He pulls them back and walks towards a ladder, he climbs up the ladder as he ascends he tries to look around but the strings around his neck tighten even more and he feels warm liquid dribble down from where he's sure the strings drew blood.  _

_ He gets to the top and sees Mable bending over trying to grab something out of one of her props he saw her building earlier, he walks closer to her and feels his hands rise from their places at his sides. As he gets closer he begins to realize what the strings intend to make him do. He begins to struggle with as much strength his small body can provide, he thrashes in his restraints. The strings tighten in retaliation and it begins to get harder and harder to breathe. _

_ One step. _

_ He's getting closer to Mabel, he tries to open his mouth and warn her but the strings around his throat won't let him speak. _

_ Two steps. _

_ He continues to fight against his restraints but his efforts are in vain. The strings are stronger and he is weak against them. _

_ Three steps. _

_ Mable turns around and smiles but her expression morphs into one of confusion then horror. _

_ Four steps. _

_ Mable is calling his name now, trying to get him to respond. He can't reply though, it hurts too much. _

_ Closer... _

_ His arms reach for Mable and she takes a step back in fear, her expression makes his heart shatter. She's afraid. Afraid of  _ him _.  _

_ Closer... _

_ He's right in front of her now, he grabs the front of her sweater. She loses her footing and stumbles backward a bit, the only thing holding her up now is him. His hold on her begins to loosen and she's yells something at him but he can't hear her past the sound of his blood rushing in his ears.  _

_ He can do nothing but watch as his fingers loosen one by one. _

_ He lets Mable fall. _

* * *

Fear. Such an overwhelming amount of fear.

Willow had been woken up in the middle of the night because she abruptly began to sense something. She and her siblings had gone upstairs with Mabel and had spread out on the floor in between Mable's and Dipper's beds. Willow yawned silently and turned over to try to find the source of emotions she had been awoken by.

She held in the urge to gasp aloud.

Thick black tendrils were warping and twisting around the entirety of Dipper's bad. Pure, raw, fear seeped from the small shaking form on the bed. Willow felt sick, it was becoming overwhelming very fast. She had seen her uncle at his lowest moments but never like this, he never let either her or her siblings see him like this. The younger version of Dipper was openly sobbing quietly into his sheets which he was clenching tightly in his hands, his small frame trembled with every heaving breath he shakily drew in. Willow didn't understand what was happening, why was he feeling like this? What was causing this? Just as she was beginning to think about if she should wake him Mabel shot up in her bed and looked directly at her brother as if sensing his distress. 

Mabel hurriedly uncovered herself and nimbly maneuvered over Hank and Acacia before standing before her brother. Mabel glanced around most likely to make sure that everyone was still sleeping, Willow quickly closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. It was nearly impossible with Dipper's aura suffocating her but she somehow managed. When she was sure Mabel had turned around she opened her eyes and saw that she had turned her attention back to her brother. Mabel reached out to touch his shoulder when he shot up with a loud gasp, Mabel jumped back a bit startled. Dipper whipped his head left and right with a wild fear in his eyes, he looked tp his left and saw Mabel standing by his bed. His eyes widened and he hesitantly reached out to touch her, Mabel met him halfway and gently took his trembling hand in her own.

Dipper stared at their connected hands in bewilderment, he looked to Mable than back to their hands. If Willow had to describe it she would have said he was struggling to believe that what he was seeing was real. Mabel slowly crawled into bed next to her brother only Dipper didn't seem to notice as he was still staring at their hands.

"Bad dream?" It was whispered but Willow could still faintly understand what Mabel had said. Dipper only nodded mutely as he turned his head away in shame, Mabel gently turned him back around but he still refused to look at her face. "Talking about it helps, you know?" She offered quietly. "You don't have to if you don't feel like it but if you change your mind I'm all ears." Mabel waited a moment and looked at her twin. He was trembling still, no more tears could be seen but the tracks were still there. His eyes were blood-shot and glazed over as if he wasn't there with her but somewhere miles away.

"I-it was about w-what h-happened today..." Dipper suddenly whispered Mabel frowned but waited patiently for Dipper to continue. "He... I-" He took in a breath and raised his eyes to meet Mabel's. Mabel felt her heart shatter at the emotions swirling in Dipper's wide brown eyes, there was so much fear, regret, and guilt it made her want to burst into tears as well but she held it together. Getting overly emotional was not going to help Dipper at all. She steeled herself and waited for Dipper to gather himself, Dipper stared at her as if he was afraid she was going to disappear the second he looked away. "H-he... He made m-me hurt y-you..." Tears began to slowly form and fall down his cheeks, "Mabel, I-I killed you." He whispered so quietly Willow nearly missed what he said. "He w-was controlling m-me with t-these strings, and-and I pushed y-you off the..." Dipper threw himself at his twin and began to cry into her shoulder, "I-I could've k-killed you today." He cried while Mable rubbed soothing circles on his back. He clung to her nightshirt tightly afraid of letting go.

"Dipper," Mabel called his name softly, he didn't look up but his crying had quieted for a moment so she knew he was listening. "That wasn't you, you have to remember that. You and Bill are two different people, and I know you would never hurt me." Willow remembered her Mother having to tell Uncle Dipper that all the time when he would think about leaving to protect them. The younger Pines Twins continued to hug each other, they stayed like that until Dipper's colors brightened with soothing blues and contented magentas. Willow heaved a silent sigh of relief, suddenly feeling like she was invading a personal moment she turned over and tried to fall back asleep.

* * *

Later the next morning the triplets left before Mable or Dipper woke up managing to sneak out of the shank without anyone noticing. They walked into the forest for a little bit before sitting down to discuss what they should do next.

"No offense to past Mom or anything but this was kinda pointless," Acacia stated while pulling her hair into a high ponytail and yawning.

"I agree, we didn't learn anything about how Uncle Dipper became a demon," Hank added, he looked to Willow waiting for her to say something but she was staring back int the direction the shack was with a small frown. He looked to Acacia with questioning eyes but she shrugged as she didn't know what was wrong with their sister either.

"Will? You good?" Acacia called causing the youngest triplet to jump at the sound of her name. She turned to her siblings while wringing her hands.

"Y-yeah... I-I'm fine, just a little tired is all," See muttered and looked down at her hands in her lap. She glanced up only to be met with her sibling's dubious stares, she sighed and decided to give up and tell them. "Last night Uncle Dipper was having a nightmare," She started.

"Did you 'see' something?" Hank asked moving over to sit by her with Acacia following close behind, they both sat on either side of her. Willow nodded at Hank's question.

"What was it?" Acacia asked gently, knowing how hard it was when something overwhelmed Willow. 

"His colors were black, like fully black and he was so scared. I literally could taste the fear rolling off of him and it was horrible and-and..." Willow buried her face into her hands. "He said something was controlling him in his dream and forced him to kill Mom." She said softly, she looked to her siblings with tears in her eyes. "He was so afraid he killed her..."

"Who was controlling him though?" Acacia asked through gritted teeth as she tried to control her anger, she hated seeing Willow like this and hearing that something was messing with a part of her family pissed her off.

"Mom said something about a guy named 'Bill'..." Willow answered. The triplets sat in silence for a few minutes before Willow stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. She turned to Acacia and held a hand out to help her up, Acacia took it and Willow lifted her while Hank stood up as well. "We can worry about that later but for now we need to figure out 'when' we should go next."

"I think you mean 'when' we should go," Acacia said with a smirk only to be met with deadpan stares.

"Will already said that."

"He's right I did."

"Whatever..." Acacia grumbled and crossed her arms. "So what time do we go back to now, oh, Smart One?" She asked Willow, the youngest triplet smiled as Acacia's antics helped her get her mind off more... negative things. Before her mind could go back down that dark road Hank facepalmed rather loudly causing her attention to divert to him.

"What's wrong, Hank?" Willow asked slightly concerned.

"Why didn't I think of that before?!" He cried exasperated.

"Dude, what's your problem?' Acacia asked slowly becoming concerned as well. 

"We could've just used the date the Transcendence happened! It's all the history teachers talk about and it's all over those dumb history books we have at school!" He exclaimed and it was Acacia's turn to facepalm.

"Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Willow asked softly as she pulled out the Time Tape, she looked to her siblings as they gathered their stuff and moved closer to her. Hank placed a hand on her left shoulder while Acacia held onto Hank's hand, they looked to her expectantly and Willow took a deep breath. "Are you guys sure you want to go through with this?" She asked quietly when no one answered she continued. "I mean, we don't know what we're going to see. What if we see something Uncle Dipper and Mom never wanted to know about?" She was rambling but couldn't bring herself to care, she kept going. "What if this 'Bill' guy is the cause of why Uncle Dipper's a demon now? What if-"

"We won't know unless we try it out," Acacia cut her off gently lacking her normal attitude. "I think at this point we're too far in to try and back out now," She chuckled, Willow nodded solemnly and looked back to the device in her hands.

"Whatever we see, we can deal with together," Hank reassured her with a small smile to which Willow returned tentatively. She stared at the device in her hands before slowly pulling out the tape to the line that read 'August 30th, 2011'. She drew in a shaky breath then let the tape snap back into the device. In a flash of light, they were gone.

* * *

When they opened their eyes again they were still in the forest only the sky was red and the sun was gone, trees were burning and creams could be heard in the distance. Hank looked around being the first to let go of his siblings with wide eyes and a tremble in his steps.

"What the heck...?" He trailed off as his eyes caught the sight of the town burning in the distance. Willow and Acacia looked around in bewilderment as well coveying different levels of shock and fear. Willow looked in the direction the town was, where most of the screams were coming from, she had to fight the urge to cry out at what she saw.

They were everywhere, covering nearly everything in sight. The same black tendrils she had seen squirming around Dipper's bed, nearly every living creature was emitting such strong waves of fear it was starting to get hard to breathe. She wanted to get as far away as possible from the auras surrounding the townfolk, but something deep inside her was telling her that was where she needed to go.

"We need to get to the town, now!" Willow found herself shouting to her siblings, she took off running shortly after the words left her mouth not even bothering to check if her siblings were following. She was reassured nonetheless when she heard two pairs of footsteps hot on her heels, they kept running and when it got even harder for Willow to breathe Hank made her stop long enough to use her inhaler then offered to carry her on his back. She refused for a bit but when she had to stop and use her inhaler again Acacia practically had to throw her onto Hank's back, Willow gave up on arguing with them and let herself be carried in the end pointing them in the direction she felt the tugging sensation coming from.

They lept over rubble from destroyed buildings and occasionally had to fend off some monster using Willow's fire. It was strange for the triplets to see all sorts of strange creatures in one place, not far from the outskirts of the town a giant pyramid was crashing from the sky. As if fell blue flames roared from its interior and frame when it reached the ground the flames blew out and the large structure shook the earth on impact. Willow could feel the tugging getting stronger nearing desperate at this point.

"We need to hurry!" She suddenly shouted Hank jumped the sudden shout and winced slightly as she had yelled in his ear but picked up his pace anyway. Acacia did her best to keep up with them, the ran to where the pyramid had crashed and Willow shoved herself off of Hank. She weaved her way through the larger pieces of rubble and stopped nearly causing her siblings to slam into her back from her sudden stop.

"Willow, what's wrong?" Acacia asked but Willow didn't respond only continued to stare straight ahead. Hank glanced at her worriedly before following her line of sight. About thirty or so feet away from them was Mable crying over her twin's body, Acacia looked as well and let out a small gasp.

Mable was cradling Dipper's unconscious form sobbing uncontrollably, "You can do it, bro-bro," She cried loudly uncaring for who could hear here. "Don't let him win! Don't let him take over!" She screamed causing Willow to flinch at the sudden spike of desperation that colored her aura. Mable was a typhoon of emotion, mixtures of angry reds full of self-loathing and frustration swirled with fearful blacks along with murky greens of desperation. Willow clutched the fabric of her shirt just above her heart and wobbled unsteadily on her feet, Hank steadied her with a firm hand to her shoulder.

"Kids! Are you okay?!" A voice called out from the trees and soon an older pair of twins the triplets recognized as their Grunkles rushed from the tree line at towards where Mable sat with her brother in her arms.

"Grunkle Ford, Grunkle Stan!" Mable sobbed in relief that they had survived the fall, "Bill, he-he's inside of Dipper's mind! He wants to take control of him so he can stay alive! He's going to kill Dipper!" She shrieked loudly. Stanford and Stanely kneeled next to the kids Ford taking Dipper from Mable and gently laying him on the forest floor while Stan wrapped Mable into his arms.

"It'll be okay Pumpkin, your brother's nothing if not stubborn," Stan said with a shaky chuckle hoping to cheer his great-niece up. "You'll see, any minute now he's going to wake up and tell us that triangle creep is good as gone."

"I don't know Stanely, chances of that happening are pretty low..." Ford muttered as he stared at Dipper's unconscious form. Stan glared at his brother.

"Really, Pointdexter?!" He gently let go of Mabel and turned to face Stanford fully. "Of all the times to be a wet blanket you choose now?!" He shouted Ford faced him with a matching glare of his own.

"I'm just being realistic, Stanely!" He yelled, "Bill is a being of pure energy and is strongest in the Mindscape, Dipper has little to no chance of defeating him in there!"

"So you're telling me, the kid's got no chance of coming back from this?! Is that what you're saying?!" Stanley stood up getting increasingly louder with every question, he loomed over Stanford angrily.

"As much as I hate to say it, yes! That's exactly what I'm saying!" Ford rose to stand as well leaning into Stan's face. "I don't know why you're getting angry at me when I'm only telling you the facts!" 

"So that's it...?" The two men turned and saw Mable had moved next to Dipper again and was looking up at them with tears streaming down her face. "He's not going to make it back?" She whimpered. Ford felt guilt stab his heart as he took in her heartbroken expression and kneeled next to Mable, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Grunkle Ford... Is he gone...?" She whispered. Stanford opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a small whimper, he looked to Mable who looked at him with wide eyes but quickly looked to Dipper who was curling into himself and shaking slightly. Mable threw herself next to her twin and placed her hand on her shaking shoulder. 

"You can do it Dipper, you can't give up now. If you leave me who's going to bore me to death with all those nerdy theories?"

"Come on, brat. I didn't expect you to give up so easily like this, where that stubborn mule I know?" Mable looked up at saw Stan next to her with tears- that she knew he would deny were even there- in his eyes. They looked to Ford who stood there looking sadly at the young boy, he turned to Dipper and gently ruffled his hair.

"Dipper, I know you're still in there." He looked up at locked eyes with his twin brother then smiled grimly, "If anyone can beat Bill, it's you."

The three of them continued to give Dipper encouragement until suddenly he stopped moving, they waited while holding their breaths to see who would wake up. Mable moved to touch Dipper's shoulder again but was blown backward along with her Grunkles by some sudden wave of power, she slammed into a tree and felt the wind get knocked out of her. She felt herself continue to be pushed back but scrambled to grab onto a tree root that was sticking out of the ground, she looked around and saw Stan and Ford were in similar situations with Stan being pressed up against a tree with Ford held onto a rock sticking out of the ground. She looked back to where her brother was and saw him lying on the ground while blue fire circled him.

"Dipper!" She shouted in hopes of waking him up somehow, she didn't know what was happening. This hadn't happened the last time Bill had taken over his body. Dipper's eyes suddenly opened and showed his pupils had vanished were replaced with white shining orbs, before she could even ask who it was that had woken up from the mental battle victorious the body of her brother began to scream. He thrashed and wailed while clawing at his face and body, the flames surrounding him grew and began to envelop him. 

Only he didn't burn.

* * *

Willow and her siblings looked on in abject horror as the younger version of their uncle thrashed about in pain not from the flames around him but something entirely worse. Willow couldn't 'see' anything other than the white-hot pain that rolled off of Dipper in monstrous waves, she and her siblings couldn't hear anything over his continuous wailing and crying from the pain. Willow barely noticed the tears that were rolling down her sibling's and her face from looking at the scene.

_ No wonder they don't want to remember, they all blame themselves for what happened to Uncle Dipper. _

"M̵͙̯̱̔̈́͛̓̾̈̕A̸̛̝K̶͕̐̄̆͆̓̿̂̏Ė̶̟͈͚͓͔͊͗͛̋̈́͆̕͝ͅͅ ̵̠̺̙̝͚̟̠͎̀̽̀̇̏̀Ȋ̴̢̼͋̈̿̐̊̋͒̚Ţ̸̛̖̩͎̱͔̩́̊̽̄͗̎̑͆ ̴̧̭͎̰̼̜̥͎̺̲͛Ṣ̶̙̪̟̣̍̓̄̽̒̈́̑T̴͔̣͔̊̇̀̐̔͝O̶͇͚̹͍͚̻̩͙̱̤͛͂P̸͇̰̰̞̙͈̦̆̾̈́̎̎͘̕!̶̗̟̞͙̽̽!̸̥̖̾̈̿͂͗̆͝!̶̢̛̛͔̖̳̮̙̈́̃͘" A loud voice wailed, it no longer sounded like the voice of an innocent twelve-year-old that she had seen cry into his sister's shoulder the night before. It sounded like a monster, but Willow felt no fear when she heard it only and overwhelming sadness. 

_ This was why she found golden blood on the forks from time to time. _

"P̸̻̭͕̝̗̯̜̮͇̈́͗̈́̋͐̋L̸̥͍͍̄͌̈́̆̉͘Ė̶̢̟͇͓̘A̵̙͔̼͗̏̅̓̔͊͛̈͜S̵̹̟͓̥̼̠̳̙̯̳͊͆͆͗̐̑̂͝Ë̶̢̖̳͇͕̙̫̰̹́̀͑!̷̧̧̘̹͂̉̀͑͋̌̊̊̓̃ͅ!̵̫͐͑̌"

_ This was why Uncle Dipper never like to talk about the times he used to be human. _

"Ȉ̶̭̓̓͜T̴͎̯̦̩̺̣̍̒̿̈́͆̿̕͝͝ͅ ̷͎̞̥̎̒̄H̸̞̼̞͉̖̦̤̄͋U̷̡͎͙̙̬̳̻̩͇͛͠R̸̢̢̘̼̦̠͛͛͛̍͌̋͒̆̎͝T̶̡͉̱͑̆̅́̕S̶̗̖̃͆̿̓͐̓̆͗̍̚!̷̲̙͓͖͗̀̍̈̉͝!̷͇͙̣̟͔͘"

_ This was why Uncle Dipper's colors got sad around his and Mom's birthday. _

"Please..."

The young Dipper seemed to lock eyes with Willow, the young girl felt her heart shatter. She could see so much pain and fear in those empty eyes.

_ This was why Uncle Dipper hated himself so much. _

Dipper continued to stare at Willow as if he was begging her to make the pain stop, make it go away.

"Make it stop...p̵̡̳̪̯̘͓̼͉̰̝̌͐̿̏̊͗̏͗͝l̷̡̄̀͌͛͊̿̏ę̷̻́̀͐̕͝a̷̝̒̌s̸̨̱̣̥̟͔̼̳̘͗̽̍̄e̵̜̺͓̾͛̃͌̋̌̽̂̋͜..." He said in a tiny voice that only reached Willow, she thought she would never hear something like this from someone she looked up and admired.

"I can't..." She whispered back with tears streaming down her face.

* * *

A light flashed and the triplets were back in their own time, Willow fell to her knees and began to openly sob with Acacia following not that far behind albeit she cried a lot quieter. Hank pulled both of his siblings into a hug as tears silently made their way down his cheeks as well. That was how their Mother found them, curled up together on the floor crying. She asked what happened but received no answer, she gave up prying and wrapped her arms around her children. Dipper, through the bond he had with his twin and his little stars, felt their distress and quickly blipped into existence. He looked at his sister for answers but she was sending him the same stare, so he tried to comfort them like Mabel was trying by slowly wrapping his arms around them. Willow looked up and locked eyes with him before breaking into even louder sobbing, she threw herself into his arms and held tightly onto his coat.

Dipper looked worriedly at his little stars who were seeping with depressing colors of dark blue and ugly purples and frowned wondering what had happened to make them act this way. He rubbed soothing circles on Willow's back trying to prevent her from having an asthma attack and gently tightened his hold on her as she continued to cry loudly into his shirt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this train wreck! I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you think in the comments. And please pardon any mistakes I may have overlooked and again thank you for ready this! :)


End file.
